BOOGER COUNTY BLUES

            It’s four months later and we’re still wearing masks, social distancing and living in lockdown. Mexico set a new record yesterday with 7000 new cases. I can’t say anything good happened during this period of isolation but because of having so much free time on my hands, I was able to finish my book and get it up online. 

The book is the second in the Freeman Agency series: Booger County Blues.

PJ Frank Hudson

July 10, 2020

AVAILABLE NOW, June 18, 2020!! A Freeman Agency Novella #2

BOOGER COUNTY BLUES  The price is only $4.97, so follow the link and help a starving artist.

When Eric Freeman tries to help his uncle, Jason Carter, regain his life and his dignity, he discovers a beautiful young lady planning to cheat her way into millions. So if you’re tired of the facemasks and social distancing, my new novella BOOGER COUNTY BLUES, will be sure to lighten your mood. Here's the link: https://books2read.com/u/mBgjVN

It’s something that’s hard to get away from.  If you ask people to shelter in place for this long, tensions are bound to build up.  We see that on our streets today. People are not just bored but out of work with no paycheck, bills to pay and families to provide for. I have seen nothing like this in the last seventy years.  100,000 Americans dead, 30% of the workforce without a job and a general lack of respect for all that we have. America is truly blessed and we need to share those blessing with our neighbor, no matter the race, creed or color. We know what we should do.

Here in Mexico the problem is the same but they are different. The majority of the Mexican population has not been affected by the greed, materialism and abundance we have in the United States.  For my Mexican friends jobs in the city are blessings they have not always had.  If need be they are close enough to the land that they can live and subsist just fine without the city jobs.  They have done that before and can do it again. They are not at the whim of Wall Street or the fear of the next recession.

But things are getting harder, it appears we have flattened the curve but the number of cases keeps increasing.  We now have 27 active cases in Sam Miguel with estimates of a total number in the state of 130. Which indicates we have a long way to go.  

The good news of the lock down for me is I have completed my second book and the book is to be released on Amazon June 18.  The title is Booger County Blues and is available for $4.97 on Amazon.   The bad news is I may have time to write another book before this lock down is over.

Booger County Blues will take you back to Robertson County, Texas. To the time of the Rusty Duck Bar, its lovey bar maids, oil field workers and all the character's you enjoyed in the Calvert Chronicles.

"they danced down the streets like dingledodies"

San Miguel de Allende, March 30, 2020

Sometimes you can feel these things.  Sometimes you can see them. Three days a week I have the opportunity to observe a congested intersection in the privacy of my car.  Sitting there drinking my morning coffee as I wait to pick up Juan and Berta. I study the people and their habits in their early morning commute to work.  Last Friday as I waited i could count on one hand the number of people not wearing facemasks.  This morning, being Monday, I can count the number wearing facemasks on one hand.  Why the change?  Did I miss something?

            The morning broke cool and overcast with a little of the feel of last nights showers in the air.  Is it the feel of quiet optimism in the air. Does that mean people are trying to return to normal or at least return to what will be the new normal. Whatever that may be. Lord, I'm so tired of the sheltering in place and social distancing. Maybe there is a universal yearning for inappropriate distancing. Whatever this new feeling is, today it can be felt here in Mexico.

            I think about what has happened to us. Happened to us in the last two months. It’s a virus, one that kills, one we were not prepared for. But there is no right or wrong in a virus.  The right or wrong was there before the arrival of the pandemic.  Sure, the virus has brought nations to their feet and brought the world to a halt. 

            The right or wrong is there in the people.  It is the people that are unconsciously addicted to Racism, White Supremacy, Hatred, Lies, and Corporate Greed. I wonder why in a country as great as ours, we have the highest death rate from this virus in the world.  This country is suppose to be a leader in world, in not only medical knowledge but all other advanced technologies. Then why do we have one of the shortest life spans, the highest income disparities, the highest suicides rates and the largest prison populations? The right or wrong was here before the virus.

            So, what are we going to do?  Our minds are racing back and forth trying to return to that normalcy.  But what will that new normal be?  Are we going to lose the opportunity to hit the reset button? This crisis has shown us that, the air can be clean, sky’s can be blue and rivers can run clear. Are we going to bring into our new normal all of our old prejudices with us, how about the hate, the avarice, and the dead ideas.?  How about the dead rivers and smoky skies, do they come to? We can walk into the new normal and leave all of this garbage behind.  I hope we do. At least here in Mexico. As and old friend of mine use to say, "If you want to clean up the town, start by sweeping your own porch."

Speaking of Mexico, in my last letter I promised to enlighten you about tequila and mezcal.  The lead-in is the picture of the young lady with a pina on her head.  So let's try it from there.

  Well, a night out on tequila goes something like this:  Rounds of shouts, sing karaoke, dance on the bar, shoot out the lights and… (No, No, No)  That’s not right, Gringo. Tequila and mezcal should be sipped and that sipping should take some time. And it does not require salt and lime.  The old tradition of putting the salt on the senorita’s neck, biting the line and licking the salt before a shot of tequila, while romantic, is definitely a no, no.  We’re not shooting shots; it’s about enjoying the flavors, the experience and the earthy textures of the drink.

Lets start out with the basics:  All tequila is mezcal but not all mezcal is tequila.  It’s like all scotch is whiskey but not all whiskey is scotch. And Mezcal is the national drink of Mexico, not tequila.  There now, you’re smarter than most of the bar hoppers.

The girl in the picture above has the heart of a blue agave, otherwise known as a pina, held on her head. The blue agave or agave tequilana is only from five states in Mexico.  To be tequila it must come from these five states. After that pina comes off the young ladies head it will be steamed and fermented.

Both tequila and mezcal are made from the harvested core of the agave plant, otherwise known as the “piña.” However, that’s where the similarities in production end. Tequila is typically produced by steaming the agave inside industrial ovens before being distilled two or three times in copper pots. Mezcal, on the other hand, is cooked inside earthen pits that are lined with lava rocks and filled with wood and charcoal before being distilled in clay pots. While some large-scale mezcal producers have adopted modern methods, artisanal mezcal makers continue to use this more traditional method, which is the source of the smokiness commonly associated with mezcal.

Once the distillation process is over, both tequila and mezcal are aged inside oak barrels. However, the different aging categories of the two spirits are defined slightly differently. For instance, tequila comes in three varieties: blanco (silver or plato/0-2 months), reposado (2-12 months) and anejo (1-3 years). Mezcal is also grouped into three categories by age, including joven (blanco or abacado/0-2 months), reposado (2-12 months) and anejo (at least one year). So Enjoy.